No one disputes that the island city on the Arabian Sea had more than its share of rainfall recently - some parts of the suburbs are reported to have received 94cm (37 inches) of rain in a single day last week.

This city is a sinking ship

Debi Goenka, environmentalist

The high tide also did not help matters.

Mumbai's storm water drains are designed to shut during high tide.

Flyover project

This prevents tidal water from entering the city, but on very rainy days, it also prevents rainwater from draining out.

We will look into the urban development issue, but this is not the time to do it. Our priority now is rescue, relief and rehabilitation

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh

"But the water that collected in the city should have ebbed when the tide receded," says Bittu Sahgal, one of India's best-known writers on environmental issues.

"Why didn't that happen?"

Mr Sahgal blames the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, an ambitious flyover project that has come under fire from environmentalists for making ecological compromises.

The flyover crossing the sea, he says, has pinched the mouth of the Mithi River that drains most of Mumbai's excess water out into the Arabian Sea.

That's not all.

The systematic destruction of about 1,000 acres of the city's mangrove cover - what's left, about 5,000 acres, is under threat - has deprived Mumbai of its natural flood-barrier and silt trap.

Large parts of the city are under water

Now rainwater washes silt into the bay, threatening to clog the city's deep natural harbour.